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Api Api Ludat (Malay)
Avicennia officinalis

This species is not as common as Avicennia alba.

Uses as food: Although the fruits and seeds are bitter, the Javanese eat them after some elaborate processing. Leafy branches are chopped off as cattle fodder, and the tree rapidly re-grows new branches.

Other uses: The tree produces a hard, heavy timber which is hard to saw. But it is valued for making boats, houses, and wharves; the timber has an attractive grain which is good for making furniture. It is also made into chipwood and is being researched as a source of paper pulp. Tannin is extracted from the bark and roots. It also produces a dye, and the ashes used in making soap.

Traditional medicinal uses: Fruits are plastered onto boils and tumours (India). A poultice of unripe seeds stop inflammations, and heal abscesses, ulcers, boils, and smallpox sores. Roots are considered an aphrodisiac.
Mangrove and wetland wildlife at
Sungei Buloh Nature Park
Main features: Grows to 25m.

Bark: Young trees are reddish brown and smooth, older trees are grey-brown.

Roots: Pencil-like pneumatophores emerge above ground from long shallow underground roots.

Leaves: Thick, leathery, spoon-like (rounded at tip with edges slightly rolled under), shiny green above, underneath slightly hairy. 		leaves
flowers
Flowers: Small, yellow, several together, forming a cross-shaped inflorescence.

Fruits: Flat capsule containing one seed.

Status in Singapore: Rare.

World distribution: Southern Asia to Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania

Classification: Family Avicenniaceae. World 8 mangrove species.
The bark is used to treat skin problems, especially scabies (Indochina). The cut bark oozes a rubber-like, green, bitter resin that is mixed with bananas and taken by women as a contraceptive that is successful and has no long term side-effects (West Java and Sulawesi). Seed for ulcers, the resin for snakebite (Philippines).

Role in the habitat: See mangrove trees.

LINKS REFERENCES
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  • Peter K L Ng and N Sivasothi, "A Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore I: The Ecosystem and Plant Diversity", Singapore Science Centre, 1999 (p. 99: description, habit, photo; p. 42 uses).
  • Colin Field, "Journey among Mangroves", International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, 1995 (p. 70: medicinal use; p.116: use in replanting mangroves).
  • Michael Mastaller, "Mangroves: The Forgotten Forest Between Land and Sea", Tropical Press, 1997 (p. 93: as food; p. 97: medicinal uses; p: 102: other uses)
 
By Ria Tan, 2001